CYBERPUNK 2077 | CHEAPER ENTRY, COMPLETE EXPERIENCE
A city this large rarely lowers the price of admission so dramatically. Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available with a 70% discount on Steam, reducing the standard PC edition from $59.99 to $17.99, while the Ultimate Edition containing Phantom Liberty is down by 60% to approximately $33.10. The promotion forms part of Steam’s Cyberpunk Fest and is scheduled to end on August 10, giving players several more days to decide whether Night City is finally worth entering. The discount provides the immediate reason to return to the game, but it would be unfair to treat Cyberpunk 2077 as nothing more than another heavily reduced release. More than five years after its troubled debut, it has become a far more complete, confident and technically mature RPG, one that now carries over 35 million sales and continues to attract players long after the loudest arguments surrounding its launch have faded. This is no longer a purchase built primarily on promises or the hope that major repairs will eventually arrive. New players can enter a world whose systems, performance and identity have already been tested through years of updates, while returning players may find that the Night City they remember has changed considerably beneath its familiar neon skyline. The lower price opens the door, but the work completed since launch provides the stronger reason to walk through it.
night city after the noise
The disastrous condition of the original release cannot be erased, and CD Projekt Red should never be allowed to rewrite that part of the story. Yet refusing to acknowledge everything that happened afterward would be equally dishonest. Years of patches rebuilt major systems, corrected countless technical problems and gradually brought the game much closer to what players expected in 2020. Update 2.0 redesigned perks, cyberware, police behavior, vehicle combat and progression, while subsequent patches expanded customization, improved Photo Mode and added features such as the NCART metro, additional vehicles, AutoDrive and self-driving Delamain taxis. Patch 2.31 remains the latest substantial multi-platform update, refining AutoDrive and addressing another collection of common problems. The game is not simply less broken now. Its systems communicate better, character builds feel more deliberate and Night City finally has enough surrounding detail to support the atmosphere it was always capable of producing.
a world that deserves to be seen slowly
Night City remains the strongest reason to play. It is crowded without feeling cheerful, beautiful without ever appearing welcoming and filled with the kind of visual excess that makes almost every district immediately recognizable. Corporate towers rise over markets, cramped apartments, gang territory and stretches of desert that expose how artificial the city looks from a distance. The best moments are not always attached to a firefight or major quest. Sometimes the game works because V is driving through the rain, walking beneath overloaded signs or entering a building whose interior says more about its occupants than another page of dialogue could. The writing also benefits from characters who rarely fit neatly into heroic or villainous roles. Johnny Silverhand, Judy, Panam, River, Kerry and the supporting figures around them make the city feel inhabited by people rather than mission providers. Their stories give weight to a world that could easily have become an empty technology showcase.
combat and choice now have a clearer identity
Cyberpunk 2077 offers enough flexibility to support several very different versions of V. A heavily armed mercenary can force a direct path through encounters, a netrunner can dismantle enemies and security systems without entering the room, while blades, stealth, smart weapons and Sandevistan-focused builds create their own rhythm. The redesigned perk structure makes those choices more visible during play instead of hiding them behind small statistical increases. It is still an action-heavy interpretation of role-playing rather than a traditional systems-first RPG, but the combination of dialogue decisions, character development, cyberware and combat options gives each playthrough room to develop a recognizable personality. Phantom Liberty strengthens this side of the game further through Dogtown, a more concentrated location with tighter mission design, stronger political tension and Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed at the center of a story built around loyalty, survival and manipulation. Anyone purchasing the game for the first time should seriously consider the Ultimate Edition, not because the base game feels incomplete without it, but because Phantom Liberty contains some of the finest material produced for the entire project.
the missing third-person perspective
One regret has survived every update: Cyberpunk 2077 still does not offer a proper third-person gameplay perspective. The first-person camera was a deliberate creative decision, and it often works. Conversations feel immediate, interiors appear more enclosed and the connection between V’s body, weapons and cyberware is stronger when viewed directly through the character’s eyes. Even so, the absence of a third-person option remains difficult to accept in a game that invests so heavily in character creation, clothing, body modifications and personal style. Players spend considerable time shaping V’s appearance, only to see the result mainly in mirrors, menus, vehicles and Photo Mode. Night City is also one of the most visually impressive open worlds on PC, and watching a customized character move through its streets would add another layer of attachment without invalidating the original first-person design. We would not want third-person to replace the intended perspective, but an optional, properly animated camera would make the experience feel more complete. At this stage it is unlikely to arrive officially, leaving mods as the only imperfect alternative.
a discount that arrives after the real work
The current 70% reduction matters because it arrives after the game completed its long reconstruction, not during the period when buyers were effectively being asked to finance it. At $17.99, the base edition provides an enormous city, a substantial campaign and enough side stories to justify far more than the asking price. The Ultimate Edition is the more expensive option, but its inclusion of Phantom Liberty makes the additional cost easier to defend. Cyberpunk 2077 is also still one of the most demanding and visually advanced showcases available for a powerful PC, especially when ray tracing or path tracing enters the picture. Those features are not necessary to enjoy the game, although they reveal just how effectively its lighting, architecture and dense urban spaces can scale with stronger hardware. CD Projekt Red may now be moving deeper into the development of the next Cyberpunk game, but the original has not faded into the background. Continued sales contributed to the company’s 2026 revenue, and the broader Cyberpunk universe remains active through adaptations, collaborations and other projects.
